Already a sonic reinvention on just their second full album, R.E.M. returns to the garage-rock of their early demos, proving that a band’s music could be upfront in its creative intentions without necessarily being “straightforward.” Though the follow-up to Murmur roughened the band’s garage edges, emphasizing the rock end of their sonic palate, R.E.M. also strengthened their hooks significantly on Reckoning. It’s particularly noticeable on “So. Central Rain (I’m Sorry),” which was perhaps the first R.E.M. single to hint at the mainstream palatability which would later lead to their breakthrough with ballads like “Everybody Hurts.”

Their credibility, thankfully, remained intact, as the band found itself with a college radio hit on its hands, while they were still able to earn their fans through touring, letting the songs build a personal presence through their live show. Therefore they built their audience one fan at a time, and by the time they’d find mainstream success it would be because the music led the mainstream to them rather than the other way around. And though Michael Stipe’s vocals during this era have a reputation for being indecipherable, I’d say that’s something of an unearned exaggeration. The best songs on Reckoning stand out because they’re well crafted enough to emphasize R.E.M. as a whole rather than as the sum of its parts. Though Stipe would later work to annunciate his vocals more clearly, the vocals fit the nature of their record-by-the-seat-of-your-pants reality at the time. This is classic alternative which stands with the best.

53 Comments, 26 Threads

I remember, circa 1992, being a big fan of REM, considering them the apotheosis of modern music that was alternative/cool/profound/thoughtful. And at the time I was hanging out with a girl I really really liked, and one day we were listening to an REM album, maybe Automatic for the People. And out of the blue she said, “You know, REM is boring.” I started to protest, but realized right away she was right. That was me in the corner. And ever since I’ve seen REM as boring and Michael Stipe as vaguely vain and pretentious.

I definitely agree re: Buck not getting enough props. I’d say he’s among rock’s most underrated guitarists, because he tended to play a role rather than being the showy “guitar God” so many others of his generation preferred to be.

I’ve got no problem with people who just prefer the greatest hits. But I saw this as a way to explore the band’s music more fully if you so choose. Even with just the hits, I think the band proved they knew how to write strong alt-pop melodies.

Johnathan not much argument here, except two. First, Accelerate? Really? Kick it out and add Monster. Monster was the last good REM album. Sorry, but Accelerate stunk. Lastly, you could either expand the list to six, or kick out Murmur and add Out of Time. I do agree, Automatic For The People is hands down the best.

I completely agree, overrated and ponderous; pretentious, even. I found they lacked a certain quality other notable (and less than notable) 80s bands had: a constant sense of quirky fun. Instead, damned near every song they did was a dirge about some or another political issue, and an attempt to be “uber-hip.”

Besides, the B-52s ran out of creative steam very quickly (after only two albums). After that, they only had one decent album – Cosmic Thing. They were a fun band, no doubt – but they had nowhere near the musical sophistication of R.E.M. (to say nothing of the lyrics). The B-52s were a party band. R.E.M were artists.

Jonathan, I like your list, although I agree with others that I would have found a spot for Green. Automatic has some of R.E.M.’s absolutely best music – much of it is so beautiful it’s breathtaking. It’s worth the price of admission for “Everybody Hurts” and “Man on the Moon” alone – but as a whole, I feel Green is the more consistent album.

A great American rock band. The start of the musical flood from Athens. This flood changed in some ways the way Americans, and the world view pop/rock music. From the ravings of Jeff Mangrum and “Neutral Milk Hotel”, to the near perfect psychedelia of “Olivia Tremor Control”, music is a far better place for having R.E.M around. Frankly, if R.E.M. bored you, then i postulate your a damm boring person to begin with.

REM? YMMV, I guess. I understood the musical talent, just didn’t get the sensibility. Too much whine, not enough rock. I still envision Michael Stipe on stage, hugging himself, trying to curl up in a ball, wishing the world away as he keened some self-pitying, obscure little lyric. I used to wonder how a guy who’s only five months older than I am turned into…that. Was it the gayness? Was it growing up in the avant garde atmosphere of a college town? Or maybe he was just he 80s answer to James Taylor. Yeah, Everybody Hurts. Real rockers don’t whine about it.

Ok I can understand why most of the comments on this here conservative/libertarian website would dislike REM for their music from the 90′s to now. I also got tired of the political dirges and I considered myself a devoted fan at one time.

But I still love their earliest music and I think that whoever thinks that they had no sense of humor or joy in their music can’t be thinking of their output from the 80′s To me there was no band with a lighter touch. I always got an image of light playing on water or one of those water skater bugs on a pond. They were quick, light and full of energy and drive on their earlier albums. To me the 80′s version of this band is still the one I think of first when I think of the joy that can be had from music. Also, if you have ever heard their drunken version of King of the Road, you could never accuse them of being humorless.

I have a quibble with the list. Its not that any the albums on it are bad choices (although I have never heard Accelerate personally. I am just giving that one the benefit of the doubt.) I think its too short. I would make room on it for Life’s Rich Pageant. Its my favorite of all of REM’s albums and I think none other surpasses it for energy, tunefulness and fun. For it epitomizes the band and shows off all their best qualities in one place.

Doing a top five was already a 2,000-word endeavor. But Out of Time and Life’s Rich Pageant would have been in the next tier. I think these five albums provide the best entry points to the band’s sound, though I’m suspecting many of the commentators here would prefer no entry point to any of these albums.

I’m sure that was part of it … it’s difficult to find a mainstream audience and maintain exactly what made you feel unique as an underground artist. But even taking himself too seriously, they still built quite the body of work.

R.E.M. can stand proudly as one of the great rock bands in modern music, alongside U2, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Yes, The Beach Boys, and Fleetwood Mac (of course they all stand behind the Beatles and the Stones). “Lifes Rich Pageant” is – in my book – a perfect album. Favorite songs by R.E.M.: ‘Disturbance at the Heron House’, ‘Me in Honey’, ‘Cuyahoga’, and the song that started it all, the incomprehensible ‘Radio Free Europe’. That said, I think the author is correct in picking “Automatic for the People” as one of their best records (‘Ignoreland’ and ‘Man on the Moon’ are the standouts from that record). Personally, the success of R.E.M. came as a pleasant surprise. Back when I was a DJ at my college radio station, songs from Chronic Town made frequent appearances on my show, but R.E.M.’s music was nearly the opposite of the “New Wave” from England (all those synth bands were the next big thing in those days!). 30 years later, and who remembers bands like The Human League and Depeche Mode?

I’ve been enjoying flashing back to some crazy Golden Earring eighties stuff, like their brilliantly ironic videos for “When The Lady Smiles” and “Twilight Zone” … but I definitely prefer R.E.M.’s eighties output to that ilk.

Well, I guess I’ll be the one to skunk-up this garden party. Aside from the incomparable “The One I Love” from Document, I think R.E.M.’s best music is the handful of hits from Monster. Strong hooks, big and psychy sound, and not much pussification or politics which I think answers many of the critics here and explains it’s relative unpopularity among music critics and the band’s liberal fan base. Then again, I pray in the church of Page, Townsend, Richards and Hendrix and Techno.

The EP that started to get the ball rolling was called “Chronic Town”, not “Crazy Town”. Plus, how can you discuss the EP and have their first two albums, “Murmur” and “Reckoning” on this top five without mentioning Mitch Easter, the producer that helped develop the sound that created all the buzz in the first place?

Their first few albums were great, but their stuff after “Green” devolved into political diatribes and mish-mash. I still enjoy their early stuff — a lot. The rest was a disappointment, but few bands ever reach the level of creativity their early work had.

I think Mitch Easter deserves a lot of credit for the sound of the first album and in 1983 it sounded like nothing else. To me, their finest collection of songs is definitely “Dead Letter Office” for sheer inventiveness and is about as close to being “fun” as REM ever got. They cover Roger Miller and the Velvet Underground. I lost total interest after “Reckoning” but by that time there were too many other great bands competing (Husker Du, Replacements, Green on Red, Dinosaur jr. etc.)

The breakup of REM has got to rank up there with the biggest of inconsequential events in music history.
Once I’m in charge, rock ‘n roll bands will be forced to break up once any band member reaches the age of 33.

As someone who truly grew up with R.E.M. in the early and mid-1980s, I CRINGE every time I see “Automatic With The People” praised. To coin a phrase, that album was the End Of R.E.M. As We Knew It. Everything leading up to Document was fantastic, and that album, in 1987, was the opus that reached into the mainstream WITHOUT “selling out” all that was at the heart and soul of R.E.M.s music. Green (1988) and Out Of Time (1989) were steps into the inanity of pop-accessibility, but Automatic was the funeral march. When I hear someone praise that album, I can’t help but reach the conclusion that this was not a true R.E.M. fan from the time that R.E.M. was onto to something special – both new and old at the same time, cryptic yet sensibly pop, and the signature harmonies of Stipe and Mills which all but disappeared after 1986. So, for the music fan who truly wonders what R.E.M. was about and how they became known to the world, start with the 1982 EP Chronic Town. Then go through the next 5 albums in order – Murmur (1983), Recknoning (1984), Fables Of The Reconstruction (1985), Lifes Rich Pageant (1986), and Document (1987) … THEN QUIT!!!!! (Yes, they really did pump out an album every year back then). I’d even suggest trying New Adventures In Hi-Fi from 1996. It’s uneven but at times gives the only post-1987 glimpse of what made R.E.M. special. And “Everybody Hurts”, “Man On The Moon”, and “Nightswimming” AIN’T IT.

To H*ll with the naysayers! Excellent article and I agree in general with your your picks. I turned down a chance to see them in a bar in Raliegh in 1982 (can’t remember the name but it was famous in the 80′s as the best bar in NC to see new bands). I became a fan through the EPs and finally got to see them in 1983 at an outdoor event on UGA campus. Occasionally Stipe or the band would show up at the old 40 Watt Club under a psuedo name. One of my favorite songs was “Wendell Gee.” During the late 80′s and early 90′s I sort of lost interest in the band. My baby brother became a huge fan in the late 80′s and early 90′s. But when automatic for the people came, I was back in the fold.

I agree that Wide Spread Panic is an alright band but their success on the tour scene is dependent on the light cast on athen and Ga by REM and the B-52s. Athen was the best palce to see raw talent in the 80′s until the 90′s. Anybody a fan of the Bodeans and the Blasters? Finally saw both bands in clubs in Athens!

Baskethound – I was in Austin, TX in the mid-1980s. Not a bad place to see emerging talent either and that’s where I saw R.E.M. a couple times. There are a couple kind of “naysayers” here. Those who are criticizing the band overall, and those, like me, who are simply saying “hey, they declined a bit over time and those of us who loved them early sort of saw our crush wear off as the 80s turned to 90s”. When you say “during the late 80s and early 90s I sort of lost interest in the band” … it sounds like you are echoing my sentiments. We only differ in that I saw “Automatic” in 1992 as more proof of the decline, and for you it “brought you back into the fold”. I don’t think R.E.M. was an overrated band. I truly loved them. But I’ll stand by it forever that Automatic For The People ranks as one of the most, if not THE MOST overrated album of all time. Great band, flat album.